The present invention relates generally to predictive tests for early onset of coronary artery disease, and more particularly to the use of serum bilirubin, fasting blood sugar and liver function tests as risk predictors for coronary artery disease.
Cholesterol, smoking, and hypertension are widely recognized as major risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD), often referred to by the more general term coronary heart disease. Of these risk factors, cholesterol has consistently been found to have the highest association with coronary artery disease and to be its best predictor. Accordingly, much attention has been focused on cholesterol as a risk factor. More recently, a number of lipoproteins and apolipoproteins have been identified as major risk predictors and some of them, for example, high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, have been identified as independent risk factors.
A particular problem of CAD and other related heart diseases is that most individuals with heart disease are largely asymptomatic until their first heart attack. Unfortunately, the major risk factors thus far identified in the prior art are not perfect predictors, particularly for predicting the risk of coronary artery disease in any single individual. Thirty to forty percent of the population is still misdiagnosed using the known major risk factors.
Thus it is seen that there is a need for new risk factors for coronary artery disease which, in combination with prior art risk factors, will improve the predictability of coronary artery disease.
It is, therefore, a principal object of the present invention to provide coronary risk information beyond that of age, total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, smoking history and systolic blood pressure.
It is a feature of the present invention that it uses information generally already available from tests already routinely performed.
It is another feature of the present invention that it can be used to diagnose health or the absence of disease.
It is an advantage of the present invention that it improves specificity, sensitivity and accuracy of predictive tests for CAD.
It is another advantage of the present invention that its use will result in fewer false predictions.
It is yet another advantage of the present invention that its use will result in treatment for individuals with CAD to begin at an earlier age.
It is a further advantage of the present invention that its use of serum total bilirubin as a predictor for CAD can substitute for HDL-cholesterol, tests for which are difficult to standardize.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the description of certain representative embodiments proceeds.